roads

Lawmakers in the Senate and House Finance committees are expected to take up a controversial bill on truck tolls on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively Legislative leaders have proposed a compromise to raise money for road and bridge repairs.

The new bill would cap truck tolls at $20 for a rig crossing the state. It would also cut the number of toll gantries from 17 to 14. And reduce the amount of money the state borrows for road and bridge repairs.

The state department of transportation is clearing spin-outs and crashes across the state as a result of the slippery driving conditions. DOT workers said things have been relatively quiet DOT officials expect more accidents, as snows turn to sleet, and more motorists hit the roads.

House Republicans say the state can fix aging bridges without new tolls on trucks. The GOP has called for $60 million a year to be set aside from the state budget for up to 12 years.

West Warwick Representative Patricia Morgan says using money from the budget would be cheaper than Governor Gina Raimondo’s plan to toll trucks. Morgan said that’s because the state would not need to build toll-collecting devices known as gantries, or pay millions in interest for borrowing money to make improvements.

The Raimondo administration is reducing the number of trucks it wants to toll as part of a new program to pay for infrastructure improvements. However the State Trucking Association remains opposed to the governor’s initiative.

The governor’s office is exempting trucks in class sizes 6 and 7 from its plan to institute electronic tolls on highways around the state. The cost of the tolls has not yet been publicly identified.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Clay Pell says the infrastructure in Rhode Island is failing, and he wants to spend at least $200 million to fix it.

Pell released his transportation and infrastructure plan Thursday using the Providence train station as his backdrop. Pell says the station is a good example of a transportation hub in need of repairs. If elected, Pell says he would include a bond referendum in 2016 and 2018 to create a $200 million program to improve bridges, roads and highways.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Raimondo unveiled a plan Monday to improve the state’s roads, bridges, and other infrastructure. Raimondo touts her proposal as a way to bolster Rhode Island’s lackluster economy.

Raimondo toured an outdated bridge on the East Providence-Seekonk line to dramatize her call for improving Rhode Island’s infrastructure. Raimondo says putting more money into overhauling roads, bridges and school buildings will improve the state while also sparking its economy.

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation says it’s running low on road salt for the highways. The news comes as another winter storm is expected to hit the state.

The department says it only has enough road salt for one more storm. That’s because this winter has not only been harsher than others, but because it has swept across a broader swath of the country. Most states in the northeast get their salt from the same sources, and with wicked weather blanketing the region, the regular suppliers are getting tapped out.

The City of Central Falls plans to repair and pave 16 roads. Mayor James Diossa said the Pawtucket Water Supply Board is ripping up the roads to make repairs to water mains. Instead of just patching the roads back together, the city will completely repave them.

“Pawtucket Water Supply opens up the roads and they were willing to grid the roads and leave it to the point where we just have to cover it with asphalt,” said Diossa, “so that’s why it’s very, very cheap for 16 roads.”